sounding out the future
I happened to hear the third episode of a radio documentary on the weekend, called 'The Nerve' by the Canadian Broadcasting Commission and being played on ABC Radio National's 'Into the Music' program. Very good doco, which had me thinking about how important it might be to consider WHAT MIGHT THE FUTURE SOUND LIKE ? Having gone back and listened →
installation architecture
The Pavillions for A New Architecture exhibition, held in 2005 at the Monash University and curated by Geraldine Barlow and Max Delany, is perhaps relevant to designing installations for the future. Certainly some very nice work there. Stuart Harrison, with his piece 'Shadow Cabinet', done with Graham Crist.
integrated food production
Ecocity Farm (link to main ecocity farm site) These guys just won some award on the ABC's New Inventors program. These kinds of systems are surely the direction we need to go in. It is perhaps an expanded autotrophic system? This is the summary text from the ABC site: Ecocity Farm is an improved aquaponics system of food production which combines the breeding →
sustainable habitat 2020; bodily becomings
This is useful re ways of presenting futures: A film for 2020: off the grid but i wish the people in it looked like this: http://www.lucymcrae.blogspot.com/ superb.
“the slippage of contemporary life into sci-fi”
In yet another onto-it post (from 2006) by Geoff Manaugh on his BLDGBLOG he throws up some enticing potentials about future aeroplanes printed out of plastic and the imagined potential of bio-printing. But where it gets really interesting for me, is where he starts to discuss how contemporary life is slipping into sci-fi, and "Science-fiction and social realism will become one →
Masks: something in the air
Thanks to Khadija Carroll (also part of the Society of Molecules), who sent me this link, commenting on how it reminded her of things discussed on this blog. A very interesting fashion collection that is extremely diverse, but ever example involves masking. Masks: There's Something in the Air I would like to see this as a potential wardrobe for the PALS. I think →
Diagrams
Here is an interesting 'diagram' I saw this morning in the local mag while waiting for my takeaway coffee. Its message is clear and effective and it seemed pertinent in relation to our recent diagramming exercises. By connecting a long history with a tangible life, the lump of wood became the tree that deserved more respect. I found this highly →
SeaStar
The models
Hydro-Net
For another impressive project exploring possible futures, see Hydro-Net, posted on BLDGBLOG.
face masks & pensieve/iPatch
This post on BLDGBLOG suggests a fulsome and pressing demand for new facemask designs, such a those peter has posted, and the one in the textiles show. It is also a pretty interesting and extensive post on a poignant relationship between architecture, microbes and their mutations. Very pertinent relative to this weeks Margulis/Sagan text, particularly the 'Masters of the Biosphere' →
Sea Level Rise Explorer
Here is an interesting site, that links to a 'Sea Level Rise Explorer': http://wasea.com.au/content/view/89/140/ And, this site lists likely effects of climate change on Western Australia in particular, and includes some graphs of historical sea and atmospheric changes. http://www.futuresmart.com.au/rtwgreenhouse.html
Warming via cremation + BLDGBLOG
This blog, BLDGBLOG by Geoff Manaugh, is very good. I suspect his book may be worth getting. He will be speaking at the Parallax conference in Melbourne in late April/early May. I was particularly warmed by this post on heating via cremation.
SymbioticA workshop
Today I went to a one day SymbioticA workshop. Missed the end, as I had to catch a plane, but got to see most of it. It was incredible. I learnt a great deal, and as I sped off to the airport, I felt like my frontal lobe was going to explode. Why? Because it took you into the thick of →
essential viewing
Gregory Stock: How biotech will drive our evolution You should all watch this. It's a bright, optimistic, but not too idealistic, idea of where we are heading, emphasising that biotechnology is the most important arena of change. He ends the talk by saying that are both the "we are the architects .... and we are also the objects of these →
Biotech Art Revisited Exhibition
Here are some pictures of a few of the works. [caption id="attachment_827" align="alignleft" width="283" caption="Gary Cass & Donna Franklin"][/caption]
Biotech Art Revisited Opening
The Biotech Art Revisited exhibition opened on the 8th, after a day long symposium at EAF (Experimental Art Foundation). The symposium was largely a series of presentations from the artists in the show, so were very varied. The conversation at the end of the day got interesting, as it started to get into the subject of how we might think →
killer imps
Here is a blog entry from Skeptical Futuryst (Stuart Candy) in which he discusses his visit to the RCA and the Design Interactions program. His main point though, is that we should aim more for the 'killer imp' (ie 'implication') than the 'killer app'.
future of design
John Thackara asks: What would architects design, if they did not design buildings? What would designers design, if they did not design products, or posters? He is not convinced that architects and other designers should limit their capacities to design-for-production, or for individual expression.
The Age of Stupid
The Age of Stupid: final trailer, Feb 2009 HD from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.
Performing Urban Futures
If any of you thought we were a little off-beam reading Stanislavski and building characters, here is an example of some others doing something similar: Urban Futures: a performance based approach to residential design
Blue slugs in silicon: iPatch prototype
From our session today. Slimy blue.
Dirt under the fingernails
Ok, as promised, this is the bit of text I wrote recently which I said I'd post once i got my ailing computer back. I must say that this erupted out of my morning coffee at a cafe, and while I like aspects of it, other bits irk me. The bit that irks me is that the focus is largely →
White, Fibre Fabulosity: Tokyo fibre 09 Senseware
Like a white swan landing on the reflective lake at just the right moment, this exhibition is coming. Following my earlier post, Extreme Textiles, I just stumbled across this post on the Design Boom blog The site for this delicious looking exhibition is here: Tokyo fibre 09 Senseware It's pure magic. check it out. I especially like the filter mask moulded →